Google Discover Is Getting an AI Chat Box So You Can Just Tell It What You Want

Key points

• Google will roll out an AI-powered feed customisation tool for Google Discover within "the coming days."
• Users type a description of what they want to see, and the AI reads the request and rewrites feed settings automatically.
• The same update adds voice briefing personalisation to Google News on Android.
• A new "Preferred Sources" button will let publishers put a one-tap subscribe shortcut directly on their own websites.

Your Google Discover feed, the scrollable wall of recommended articles on the Google app's home screen, has always learned from what you click. The problem is that the learning's invisible. You never quite know why it keeps surfacing stories about a topic you glanced at once, and nudging it differently takes patience.

Google is about to make that simpler.

How does the new feature actually work?

You tap the three-dot menu on your Discover feed, open a chatbot-style panel, and type what you want. Something like "more tech news, less celebrity gossip" is enough.

The AI reads your message, confirms what it understood, and lists the content it'll now prioritise. If it's misread you, type again to correct it. Hit "Refresh your feed" and the changes go live. Google says the system will remember your preferences for future visits, so you're not starting from scratch each time.

When we first covered the Preferred Sources feature on 20 August, the direction of travel was clear: Google wants you shaping your own feed rather than leaving the algorithm to guess. This is that idea taken further.

What else is changing?

Two other updates arrive alongside the feed tool. Google News on Android is getting personalised daily audio briefings: tell the app which topics matter to you and the spoken summary reflects those choices rather than a generic roundup.

The Preferred Sources feature is also expanding. It already lets you see more articles from specific publishers across Search results, AI Overviews (the AI-generated answer summaries at the top of search pages) and AI Mode. Now publishers can place a "Preferred Sources" button on their own sites. Tap it while reading and that outlet joins your preferred list without opening a Google settings page.

Should you worry about privacy?

Read the small print before you type anything personal.

When you describe your preferences in a chat box, that text goes to Google's servers. Google already collects data about your searches and app activity to power Discover, so this extends what already happens rather than introducing something entirely new. That said, typing your interests explicitly gives Google a cleaner, more direct signal than passive click-tracking does. If that's uncomfortable, tapping "Not interested" on individual stories still works without any chatting required.

Common questions

When can I use this?

Google says the chatbot customisation panel is rolling out to the Google app "in the coming days." No specific date was given, and features like this typically reach users gradually over a week or two rather than all at once.

Is this free?

Yes. The Google app and Discover feed are free, and Google hasn't announced any paid tier for this feature.